A matchup between undefeated featherweight contenders Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy will headline a UFC Fight Night event in London, England, in March with a lot on the line.
The UFC confirmed the 145-pound bout is set to take place March 21 at The O2 Arena and announced the full fight card on Monday.
The winner of the main event matchup will be positioned to fight for the featherweight championship later this year. Reigning titleholder Alexander Volkanovski defended his belt against Diego Lopes in a rematch this past weekend at UFC 325.
Volkanovski had previously said he was expecting to face either Evloev or Murphy in his next title defence prior to his rematch with Lopes getting booked.
Evloev is a perfect 19-0 in mixed martial arts and 9-0 in the UFC since debuting in 2019. He holds notable wins over Diego Lopes, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen and Dan Ige, among others, yet he has never finished an opponent in the UFC and has dealt with multiple injuries in recent years. The 31-year-old Russian has been the top-ranked contender in the weight class for many months; however, injuries prevented him from competing in 2025.
Meanwhile, Murphy made a case for getting the next title shot when he knocked out former longtime Bellator MMA star Aaron Pico at UFC 319 in the summer with a spectacular spinning elbow. The 34-year-old from Manchester, England, is 17-0-1 as a pro with nine consecutive wins at the UFC level.
The UFC London card is set to feature plenty of talent from Britain, including an all-England matchup between streaking welterweights Michael "Venom" Page and Sam Patterson.
English middleweight Christian Leroy Duncan will have the home crowd behind him when he faces Roman Dolidze.
Leroy Duncan is coming off a perfect 2025 campaign after going 3-0 to improve to 13-2 as a pro. The 30-year-old from Gloucester won a decision over Andrey Pulyaev last March in London before earning Performance of the Night bonuses for his highlight knockouts of Eryk Anders in August and Marco Tulio in November.
Dolidze, 37 from Georgia, had a three-fight winning streak snapped by Anthony Hernandez in August in his most recent outing.
UFC Fight Night: Evloev vs. Murphy will mark the 17th UFC event in London in the organization’s history. It will mark the fourth consecutive March during which the UFC has held an event in the city. Since 2020, there have been six total UFC events held at The O2 in London, with an English fighter featured in the main event each time — former welterweight champion Leon Edwards has headlined three of them and current heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall headlined the other three.
The UFC held one event in England in 2025, a March Fight Night card headlined by American Sean Brady submitting Edwards.
